Electric motors consume 67 percent of the energy produced in the United States, yet their fundamental technology hasn’t changed much in the past 100 years. Thor Power, a resident company in the Ben Franklin Business Incubator, is well on its way to commercializing an entirely new electric motor design that could have a dramatic impact on nearly every sector of society.
Alternating current (AC) motors are used extensively in many products, including refrigerators, air conditioners, power tools, washers, dryers and computers. The basic design, perfected in the late 1800s, involves supplying an external stator with an electrical current to produce a rotating magnetic field. This electromagnetic field spins the rotor that rests inside the stator. Such a design is only 47 percent efficient in its use of electricity, according to Dave Bonner, CEO of the Bethlehem-based company.
Thor Power’s motors, on the other hand, use highly efficient rare-earth magnets, a relatively new technology. These magnets are powerful enough to eliminate the need for electricity to generate the magnetic field that spins the rotor. This design also permits electronic regulation of the motor, compared with the mechanical methods that are used today.
Eliminating the electromagnets lowers the weight and results in a quieter, more efficient motor — 87 percent efficient, in fact. Testing has shown that the motor also lasts significantly longer than standard designs. “The typical AC motor has a life span of about 400 hours,” says Bonner. “We stopped testing ours when it reached the 2,000-hour mark with no signs of degradation.”
So what might this mean for consumers? Bonner sums it up succinctly. “Our design generates twice the power at half the weight and double the efficiency of existing electric motors,” he says. “This cuts the consumers’ operating costs by 50 percent. This is a major technological advance, particularly in the one- to two-kilowatt power range. And it comes at an opportune time, considering this country’s current energy and environmental needs.”
Bonner gives Ben Franklin Technology Partners much of the credit for getting the company ready to commercialize the intellectual property behind the motor. “Thor Power wouldn’t exist today without Ben Franklin,” he says. “It’s that simple.”
According to Bonner, “The staff at BFTP knew that we should be in their business incubator before I did.” In addition, BFTP has invested more than $400,000 in the company over the past four years and provided valuable connections and insight into the angel and venture capital world. Thor Power recently completed an “A” round of funding, bringing in $550,000 in additional money.
Bonner says the company will focus on small motors of 5 kilowatts or less, “because that’s where the bulk of the market is.” The two biggest users of electricity are refrigerators and air conditioners. The Department of Energy reports that these two products together consume 25 percent of all electricity produced in this country.
Ultimately, Thor Power doesn’t want to be in the business of producing the motors themselves, because the manufacturing infrastructure to support the efforts would be cost-prohibitive. “At heart,” Bonner says, “we’re an intellectual property company. We want to partner with different manufacturers who are already in the business of making products that use electric motors.”
Reprinted with permission from KEYnotes, the e-newsletter of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners
